'They were walking past, coughing and saying: “That’s that freak family. That’s that freak child”. It’s not a phase. It’s not a choice – what child would choose to be completely miserable?
‘I don’t expect people to understand. I just don’t want people abusing my child. I don’t want her to be called a freak. I want her to be left alone. Some people need glasses. Some people are required to go in wheelchairs. My daughter needs to dress like a girl because she is a girl.’
The mother of "A girl trapped in a boy's body" who returned to school last week, quoted in The Daily Mail.
See also The Sun's take on the story; 'Wrong Sex Lad Dresses As Lass'
- illustrated with the photo above.
The story was broken when some parents complained to Worcester News that the headmaster had shown a documentary about a transgender woman at assembly allegedly without telling them.
Most of the coverage seems even-handed, and she hasn't been named nor has her school, but am I alone in feeling uncomfortable that any paper thinks it's okay to publish stories about a 10 year-old kid who's going through this?
Update: Shelagh Fogarty on BBC Radio 5 Live had an interview with the girl and her mother on Tuesday afternoon.
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hi I am a trans adult,
ReplyDeleteit is about time that people woke up, and stopped trying to protect, and in-plant there own sometimes radical views on their children, and others around them.
Transgendered people are a of a serious minority, and are normal people, many are in very responsible positions, and are in regularly contact with members of the population, who need some protection as they may not be able to make positive decisions for themselves, including children.
In some way it comes down to cost, I could teach people of what it is like, the discrimination we are shown, the stigma, the violence and the threats.
But the minority often are able to persuade the majority that their view is the correct one, even if it means it is in defiance with any human rights.
I would wish any person and especially children well, and try not to let these small minded people get them down, they have the problem not you.
maybe if they asked before making comment, then maybe they then may understand a lot better, and therefore be excepting of trans people, and be a defender as well.